What are some of your favorite songs on "If 6 Were 8"?
I like "Little Stickmen" because I guess that's the funniest. I guess the sweet songs are the ones that I feel best about because they make everybody happy. Like "Snow at Night" and "Over My Head".

How do you go about writing songs?
I write the words first and then the melodies. Or I listen to a melody and write about how the melody makes me feel.

How do you get your ideas?
Well, let's see .. uh .. If something hits me the right way. A lot of times I'll hear something and it feels good a long time after I'm acquainted with it.

You've written a lot of character-based songs, why have you taken that approach?
I guess these things tend to have a lot of character and it tends to make for interesting and different songs. I would find it hard to write a lot of different songs all about love. I notice I always like stuff about superheroes.

Do you have a favorite superhero?
Ones that people have heard of are Spiderman and Captain America.

How about ones people haven't heard of?
The heroes in this comic book called Outlanders.

What are some other artists that you like?
Shawn Colvin, Prince, Primus, Presidents of the United States of America, Steve Earle and Brickhead.

When did you start writing songs?
When I left college in the late 1980's. My first two songs were "Eat up All Your Food" and "I'm Not An Anorexic." They sound very similar and they have similar themes.

Do your family and friends support your music?
My family completely; they're very supportive. As for friends -- I just have some friends that are maniacs. What can I say? That's what it really comes down to.

Who's your favorite movie star?
Jennifer Jason Leigh. She's my age and she's a daring actress. I've known of her since she was 15 when she was in the movie about the high school. I tend to like actors who I've been able to follow their careers.

It seems like a lot of songs on this record have references to childhood.
Yeah. I tend to have a lot of confidence in my childhood. I'm much more uncertain as an adult. It's also easier to write about things that aren't happening right now.

What are the Shoe Trees?
The Shoe Trees are one member of the Love Machine and a longtime friend of ours who is an Irish folk musician. Basically, it's a folk music band.

How do you decide which songs go the Love Machine or to the Shoe Trees?
Whatever people feel comfortable with. Shoe Trees songs might emphasize the words more. And I guess Shoe Trees would be simple ideas. The Love Machine songs would have to be real rockers and they'd have to have something unique about them.

Do you think your writing or sound has changed in the past few years?
Yeah. The thing about my writing is that I'm actually a very inconsistent or erratic writer, so that leads to lots of surprises. You just never know what you're going to get. Like chaos theory. It just makes it hard to predict.

Just a few more questions for you -- what do you like to wear onstage?
I like to wear sneakers and regular clothes onstage. No shoes because they hurt my knees.

What do you eat on the road?
I like diners and Taco Bell. Cereal is good too because you eat it at all different people's houses.

What's your favorite sport?
Tennis, soccer and amateur wrestling.

What's your favorite automobile?
My favorite automobile is a Plymouth Sundance.

What's your favorite tour memory?
Playing at JC Dobbs in Philadelphia with an Unrest band that consisted of Mark Robinson, myself and a longtime friend of mine. It was a good sentimental teen-type thing. The audience wasn't very friendly but there was good comraderie among the three of us.

Describe your worst haircut.
I got a crewcut when I was five with my younger brother. My Dad loved it but when we got home my mother hated it.